25 Mar 18: Netflix & Dusse - Smino

Song: Netflix & Dusse

Artist: Smino

Album: Blkswn

Notable Lyric: "Livin' la vida with my lavita, feel like Ceddy // Liberate your limbs, eliminate your limits, let me"

Another day, another English lesson through music. I probably would have paid more attention during those classes if we used music-related examples. A tiny bit of me is considering going into teaching English in order to become a maverick that goes against the system and eventually have a movie made about. (Think one of those "inner city school" films that seemed to come out every year in the early 00s). But I digress..

If you read my blog post on B.Keyz's Deja-Vu then you'll begin to recognise how this falls into a similar pot. The obvious similarities (well, obvious after listening to the song 15 times) such as the mid-line rhymes and run-on sentences which tear up the guidebook of simple songwriting. I don't know if it's because my standards have dropped or because my expectations have almost patronisingly lowered that results in my overawed reaction when the lyrics of a song display glimmers of thoughtfulness. Something as seemingly simple as Smino's smart sentence reconstruction the line "Livin' la vida with my lavita, feel like Ceddy // Liberate your limbs, eliminate your limits, let me" fills me with hope of a world where we no longer glorify songs that sound like they were written 15 minutes before a hand-in deadline.

Honestly, have you tried reading out any of Lil Xan's songs? The feeling when your brain goes numb is the sign of it giving up on trying to form any coherent logic in the words. This is not even the best example but for the sake of remaining on the track of this song compare it to:

I got a pizza on the way, bae, bae I'm tryna lay, lay Lil' lady, ayy, I brought a bouquet of the treefer And I'm feelin' like we should d-d-duck away Netflix and Dusse

One innocent Google search of "songs with alliteration" took me down a 2 hour rabbit hold the other night- honorary mention obviously goes to Blackalicious' Alphabet Aerobics. But there are hours worth of YouTube content to get you mesmerised on the creativity and skill required to write (and perform) these verses.

To be honest, I'm cautious of getting too deeply engrossed in music with more intellectually stimulating lyrics in order to avoid the risk of becoming a music snob. I'm not going sit on my high-horse and be a hypocrite because I do still listen to some of the over-produced, "quantity-over-quality" songs that get shoved down our ear canals (is that a thing?). When I'm the the clurrb about to milly rock on these fools I ain't trying to listen to no woke bars. Complex songs are not exactly known to get the people going at parties - this blogging side of me stays home when I go "out out".

In a recent episode of the podcast series "We Need To Talk About", Jolyon Rubinstein and his guests discussed how the movie Annihaltion was not going to be released international cinemas amid fears of it being "too intellectual" for viewers. How embarrassing is that? Having to dumb down your work in order for it to appeal to a "larger" audience is something I'd find insulting.

However, the counterpoint being that sometimes in order for the audience to consume large amounts of music it needs to be dramatically simplified. This is not a ground-breaking discovery for the public or music labels & radio stations. The incessant demand for novelty in order to feed our dopamine deprived and instant-gratification-seeking expectations does engineer an environment where quantity trumps quality from a money-making perspective.

I do still want to believe that we, as the drivers of the music demand, can make space for music that challenges us, questions us, and makes us have to take some time to listen.

Apologies that this post has somewhat morphed into a rant but here's the song!

(pssst! surprise below)

I've decided to throw in a bonus track (because not all heroes wear capes). Again, it's just another example of Smino playing around with some half-rhymes and assonance. Innamission provides an uplifting vibe that gets your head bobbing and feet tapping.

(I haven't figured out how to change to format further than italics and bold yet so for now that's how I'm displaying the emphasis)

I need a little breather, little ventilation A million degrees I got the heat stroke waitin' When everybody leave and it's just finally you and me Ya best believe I pledge allegiance to the juice box, baby